This application relates generally to postage value accounting and metering, and more specifically to mailpiece tracking for informational and accounting purposes.
Existing USPS Mail Sorting and Tracking Techniques
The United States Postal service (USPS) has for many years used what is referred to as a POSTNET barcode for the purpose of automatically sorting mailpieces. The POSTNET barcode provides a machine-readable version of the mailpiece's ZIP code. To the extent that a mailpiece that enters the mail stream does not already have a POSTNET barcode, the USPS prints one on the mailpiece to facilitate further handling.
The USPS recently introduced Confirm®, a mail tracking service that provides electronic information to USPS mailers about their first-class, standard letter-size, flat mail, and periodicals. The Confirm® service uses, in addition to the POSTNET barcode, an additional barcode referred to as the PLANET™ code to track the mailer's mailpiece. The mailpiece would also include addressee information and a postage indicium, which might be a conventional meter imprint or a preprinted indicium such as those used for bulk mailings.
As the mailpiece progresses through to its destination, the mailpiece is scanned at the different USPS processing facilities through which it passes. These scans are sent to a centralized network service, which collects the scan data and packages it for use by the mailer. These package files are then electronically transferred from the centralized network and are available to the mailer in two ways. The mailer may view this data either by accessing the PLANET™ codes website or by having the files sent electronically. A 61-page Confirm® Customer Service Guide can be downloaded from the PLANET™ codes website.
The Confirm® service offers the customer two advance delivery information services, referred to as Destination Confirm® and Origin Confirm®. The Destination Confirm® service tracks outgoing mailpieces, such as solicitations, credit cards, and statements, providing mailers with information about when their mail is about to be delivered. This advanced notification enables mailers to synchronize telemarketing activities, track important documents and enclosures, and identify trends that help achieve delivery within specified delivery windows.
The Origin Confirm® service tracks incoming reply mailpieces such as payments, orders, and other responses. Mailers receive advance notification that reply pieces are in the mail stream, allowing them to process payments and manage cash flow more efficiently, evaluate the success of campaigns in near real-time, gain fulfillment operation efficiencies, and reduce costs associated with dunning notices.
Mail Fraud Issues
While the term mail fraud is usually used in the sense of criminals using the mails to defraud individuals and companies in connection with fraudulent transactions, a different and very serious concern of postal services worldwide is fraud on the postal service itself (postal services are alternatively referred to as postal authorities). Simply put, postal fraud in the current context means sending mail without paying for the postage. Unscrupulous mailers can manipulate postage meters to print indicia that are not accounted for, and most postage meter indicia can be duplicated (forged) by a determined criminal.
Another form of mail fraud involves under-reporting bulk mail. The term “bulk mail” refers to quantities of mail prepared for mailing at reduced postage rates, and includes discounted First-Class Mail and advertising mail (called “Standard Mail” by the USPS). With bulk mail, mailpieces bear a pre-printed indicium with a permit number, and the mailer provides the USPS a report or manifest regarding the number of mailpieces mailed. In order to qualify for the discounted rate, all the mailpieces need to be the same (except for the address), and the mailpieces need to be pre-sorted. While the USPS samples bulk mail deposits to verify the accuracy of the accompanying manifests, the USPS essentially relies on the honesty of the mailers. While the postal services do not publish statistics regarding postal fraud of the various types, it is estimated that annual lost revenues to the USPS run in the millions or tens of millions of dollars, or possibly more.
The USPS's Information-Based Indicia Program (IBIP)
The USPS has initiated a switch from mechanical meters, which store postage value in mechanical registers, to electronic meters, which are harder to tamper with. The vast majority of meters in service, including most electronic meters, use an impact printer, which makes indicia relatively easy to forge. In 1996, the United States Postal service (USPS) promulgated initial draft specifications for its Information-Based Indicia Program (IBIP). IBIP contemplates postal indicia printed by conventional printers (e.g., thermal, inkjet, or laser). An indicium refers to the imprinted designation or a postage mark used on mailpieces denoting evidence of postage payment, and includes human-readable and machine-readable portions. The machine-readable portion was initially specified to be a two-dimensional barcode symbology known as PDF417, but implementations using Data Matrix symbology have been deployed. The indicium content is specified to include a digital signature for security reasons (to preclude forgery).
There are separate specifications for open and closed systems. The specifications have been updated over the last few years; the recent specifications for open and closed systems are:                Information-Based Indicia Program (IBIP) Performance Criteria for Information-Based Indicia and Security Architecture for Open IBI Postage Evidencing Systems (PCIBI-O)(Draft Feb. 23, 2000), and        Information-Based Indicia Program (IBIP) Performance Criteria for Information-Based Indicia and Security Architecture for Closed IBI Postage Metering Systems (PCIBI-C)(Draft Jan. 12, 1999).These specificationsare herein incorporated by reference in their entirety for all purposes.        
An open system is defined as a general purpose computer used for printing information-based indicia, but not dedicated to the printing of those indicia. A closed system is defined as a system whose basic components are dedicated to the production of information-based indicia and related functions, that is, a device dedicated to creating indicia similar to an existing, traditional postage meter. A closed system may be a proprietary device used alone or in conjunction with other closely related, specialized equipment, and includes the indicium print mechanism.
IBIP specifies, for open and closed systems, a postal security device (PSD) that manages the secure postage registers and performs the cryptographic operations of creating and verifying digital signatures. This is a tamper-evident hardware component at the user site. In the case of an open system, it is attached to the host personal computer, while in a closed system, it is typically located within the same secure housing as the print mechanism. The closed system meter may be a standalone device or may be operated in communication with a host computer. In order to eliminate the need for secure hardware at the user site, there have been a number of systems where the PSD functions are performed at a server, and the user computer communicates with the server to download digitally signed indicium messages that can be formatted into IBIP-compliant indicia.
An indicium complying generally with the IBIP specifications is validated by verifying the digital signature that is included as part of the indicium. This is done by scanning the machine-readable portion of the indicium, obtaining the public key certificate number from the indicium, obtaining the public key corresponding to the certificate number, using the public key and the other data elements in the indicium to verify the digital signature using the algorithm that is used by the particular digital signature technique (e.g., DSA, RSA, ECDSA).
IBIP requires additional infrastructure for scanning mailpieces to verify the indicia, and to date only a small fraction of mailpieces bear IBIP-like indicia.